Flamboyant masks, a whole lot of spandex, and a rowdy persona to match – luchadores fly around stage in a feat of acrobatic athleticism while the audience eagerly sits at the edge of their seats waiting to see which of the luchadores will finish with their hand raised in victory.

“Lucha Libre is a type professional wrestling where they have masks on,” coach Mark Sharp said, “It’s really popular in Central America, Mexico, down to South America.”

‘Lucha Libre’ or ‘Freestyle Wrestling’ as it translates to from Spanish is currently one of the biggest spectator sports in Mexico, only overshadowed by the popularity of soccer, according to sportaspire.com. Now it is coming to Oak Park High School.

“Sharp just said, ‘Come have fun. It’ll be fun. Get your mind off robotics,’ So that’s what this was mostly about, that it’s a lot of fun,” said sophomore Sara Weeks.

The whole point of Lucha Libre is to excite the audience, a sense of mystery is added because of the masks covering the Luchadores’ faces, even storytelling elements and mythology are put in to add more interest.

“Right now, we have a wrestler, his name is Luchador Numero Uno, we have a couple of others, one of them is the couch potato. He’s lazy, but he gets the job done,” Sharp said. “One of them’s the village idiot. He’s one knocks himself out all the time.”

As of right now, Luchador Club meets up after school from 2:45-4 p.m. on Tuesdays in the wrestling room.

“We’re just practicing basic stuff and how to act out: getting punched in the face, how to fall, basically how to do everything correctly so it looks realistic,” said sophomore Jackson Troll.

If the club gets permission from the administration, they expect to have their first exhibition during the boys varsity soccer game on Tuesday, Oct. 22.

“Right now, what we want to do is bring physical fitness to kids who aren’t physically active,” Sharp said. “What we want to do is get those kids after school, attached to their school, and do something for school pride.”